The Sun Was Walking His Dogs During Sunset!

These pictures were taken at about 5:30 on Sep. 3, 2007 in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. The Sun was flanked by two sundogs.

Sundog, also called parhelion or mock sun, is an atmospheric optical phenomenon. It forms when sunlight is refracted by horizontally oriented hexagonal plate ice crystals with diameters larger than 30 micrometers.

The following links provide two more sundog pictures from NASA:
APOD: 2006 September 23 - Triple Sunrise

APOD: 1999 August 23 - Sundogs over the VLA

For more deeper information, please visit the following websites:
Sundogs: mock suns or parhelia
Sundogs (parhelia)

太陽溜狗

2007/9/3下午大約5:30時高雄西方天空突然出現異象。太陽兩旁約22度位置與太陽同高處出現兩個彩色光點，右邊光點維持約3分鐘後消失，左邊光點則持續到日落。這個大氣光學現象稱為「幻日」，又稱「假日」，英文俗稱「日狗」。

「幻日」是由於陽光被六角形扁平冰晶的垂直面折射所致。產生幻日的冰晶直徑要大於30微米，下落時像落葉因空氣阻力使得扁平面保持水平。

下列「幻日」圖片是成功大學翻譯的NASA每日一圖中文網頁：

APOD: 2006 September 23 - Triple Sunrise
APOD: 1999 August 23 - Sundogs over the VLA

更詳細的英文解說請看：
Sundogs: mock suns or parhelia

Sundogs (parhelia)

相關中文解釋請看：
大氣光象
大氣的光與色彩

(Photos by author)

Sunrise with Corona from Southern Central Mountains in Taiwan

A beautiful corona captured in February 'o3 by Edward Lin at Lidao, a small township in southern Central Mountain Range, Taiwan.

A corona forms as sunlight is diffracted by small particles, e.g. cloud droplets, small ice crystals. It is much smaller than 22 degrees halo.

日華乍現日出南橫

照片拍攝於2003年2月，南橫利稻。「華」是光線被高空中的微粒(如微小水滴或冰晶)繞射形成的現象，對太陽而言就叫日華，對月亮則是月華。「 華」比「暈」小許多，而且成因不同。

A Sun Halo Over Kaohsiung, Taiwan

These pictures were taken in Kaohsiung at noon on June 28, 2007.

Is it a circular rainbow? No. It's a sun halo. When sunlight passes through an ice crystal, it is refracted. It bends 22 degrees toward the observer from its original direction. The formation of a halo is different from that of a rainbow. A rainbow develops when sunlight enters a water droplet and is refracted and reflected. The sunlight bends about 140 degrees for primary rainbow and about 130 degrees for secondary rainbow from its original direction.

There are some pictures with brief explanations about sun halo from NASA:
1. APOD: 2006 April 11 - A Sun Halo over Utah
2. APOD: 2006 June 13 - Driving Toward a Sun Halo
3. APOD: 2002 January 14 - Sun Halo at Winter Solstice

Here is a wonderful website, Atmospheric Optics.

日暈現高雄

今天(2007/6/28)中午高雄出現日暈。日暈不是彩虹。當光線穿過高空的冰晶時，因折射而偏離原來方向22度，就會在光源周圍形成22度暈，光源如果是太陽就叫日暈，如果是月亮就叫月暈。
彩虹則是太陽光經高空中的小水滴折射及反射所形成，對虹而言光線偏離原方向約140度，而霓(即第二道彩虹，在虹的外圍)則偏離約130度。

下面是有關日暈的一些網站，NASA提供，成大物理系翻譯：
APOD: 2006 April 11 - A Sun Halo over Utah
APOD: 2006 June 13 - Driving Toward a Sun Halo
APOD: 2002 January 14 - Sun Halo at Winter Solstice

這個網站很棒，值得用力推薦，可惜沒有翻譯！Atmospheric Optics

CPC Has Changed Its Name!

CPC Stands for Chinese Petroleum Corporation no more! Its name has changed from the abbreviation, CPC, to just a name CPC Corporation. In other words, CPC stands for nothing now, and is just a name but cannot pronounce.

「國石」已移除

「國石」－－「國」家的「石」頭 終於搬掉了！中油終於只是一個名字，不再代表「中國石油」，不過不知「中」代表什麼？是象形字嗎？「口」代表地層？「l」代表穿過地層的鑽油井？

Owl Police Station

Do the polices stay up all night like the owls?

One Street, Two Names!

Look at the road signs! U disappeared after crossing the street!
今天等紅燈的時候，突然發現原來不只「橘逾淮則枳」，「Chinese Taipei」中華台北越過海峽可以變成「中國台北」，延吉街Yanji St. 越過紅綠燈就變成了Yuanji St. ，也許過馬路要來一段Yuanji Dance (元極舞)。

One Taiwan, One Dream!

If Pan-blue and Pan-green traffic without jam, ...
九如路交流道口，直行機車常擋在右轉汽車專用道前，使得右轉燈亮時汽車無法右轉！
我有一個夢想，假如有一天，藍綠可以和諧攜手同行，而不是相互糾纏，交通一定更順暢！
期待大家頓悟交通規則的那一天！

One World, One Dream!

同一個世界，同一個夢想，卻有不同的詮釋！
One world, one dream, multiple interpretations!

孔廟夜色Confucius' Dream: Confucius Coffee Shop?

左營孔廟黌宮在夜色中燈火輝煌，昔日的黌宮是學堂所在，也許現代人不太念書，今日的黌宮雖書聲已遠，卻笑語不斷，咖啡飄香。昔日踏入黌門要學的是規矩，今日踏入黌門卻是要填飽肚子。昔日的學生踏入黌門是要尋覓一塊安靜的讀書地，今日的學生踏入黌門，可以吃包粽。高雄市政府的創意，不知孔子有何感想？不過，那的確是享受"有朋自遠方來不亦樂乎"的地方！ 還有好消息，持高鐵車票(要不然怎麼叫有朋自遠方來？)到左營孔廟黌宮消費，可享八至九折優待，真是實地親身體驗論語真諦的好地方！